Flushing mechanism.



H. E. MEYER & C. E. JENSEN.

FLUSHING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED 0U. 24. l9l-3- Patented July 17,1917.

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H. E. MEYER & C. E. IENSEN.

FLUSHING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION H'LED OCT. 24. 1913.

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HENRY E. MEYER, 0F RACINE, AND CHARLES E. JENSEN, OF KENOSHA, WISCONSIN.

ZELU-SHING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1917.

Application filed October 24, 1913. Serial No. 797,011.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, HENRY E. MEYER and CHARLES E. JENSEN, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at Racine, in the county of Racine and State of Visconsin, and at Ken-osha, in the county of Kenosha and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flushing Mechanism, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to flushing mechanism and the objects of the invention are to improve flushing mechanism in the manner to be more specifically pointed out hereinafter and claimed.

This invention provides for the substantially instantaneous opening and closing of the water supply valve by simple and reliable mechanism of a character which is not liable to get out of order.

Referring to the drawings which accompany this specification and form a. part hereof, which drawings illustrate an emused to designate thesame elements wherever they may appear in each of the sev-.

eral views, Figure 1 is a plan view of the flushing mechanism and Figs. 2, 3 and 4: are

sectional elevations taken on the line aa on Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows, showing the movable parts in different relative positions.

Referring specifically to the drawings the reference numeral 1 designates an ordinary form of wooden, water tank lined with sheet copper 2, or equivalent material, which is adapted to hold'the requisite quantity of water for the flushing operation in the ordinary manner. The valve 3 admits water to fill the tank and the water flows from the tank through conduit 4. The valve-plug of valve 3, which is not shown but which is attached to the valve-stem 5, is forced from its seat by the pressure of the water supplied to the tank, when the mechanism permits, and is forced to its seat and is retained on its seat against the pressure of the water by the mechanism to be presently described. The outflow of the water through conduit 4 is controlled by the float-valve 6 which is of well-known construction and which will float when raised from its seat but will be held to its seat by the Water pressure in the tank in the well-known man ner when it is seated in its seat. The floatvalve 6 is provided with a rod 7 with a bent overend 8 which passes through a guide 9 and an eye 10 on a link 11. Link 11 is connected with a lever 12 which is fulcrumed on the pivot 13 and the handle (or operating lever) 14: is connected with lever 12 by means of the wire 15 which is carried through a cut in the lining 2, as clearly shown by the drawings. The parts thus far described are of ordinary construction and operate in the ordinary and well-known manner.

An overflow pipe 16 communicates with conduit 4 below the seat for float-valve 6 and preferably is provided with an adjustable extension 17 by means of which the height of the Water in a tank can be regulated to the particular requirements of a particular installation. Preferably the top of the extension 17 is provided with a funnel to direct the water to the middle of the overflow pipe. The size of the overflow pipe is sufficient to carry ofi all the water which can flow through valve 3 into the tank, as is customary, and this size, of course, in the construction illustrated, means the size of the opening 18 in the funnel 19.

The valve 3 is closed and kept closed by a water-actuated overbalancing member and a snap action device.

The snap action device comprises a ball or roller runway 20 illustrated as a tube, pivotally supported by the rod 21 which is supported on the tank in any suitable manner as, for example, by means of the brackets 22 and 23. Collars 24: and 25 may be used to keep the runway 20 in proper position lengthwise of rod 21. A movable weight 26, illustrated as a ball, is free to roll in the tube or runway 20 from one end to the other 1 end thereof and in rolling from one end of the tube to the other it passes the point of suspension of the tube on rod 21 so that it and is provided with a nut 31 on itsupper screwthreaded end. The runway 20 1s provided with a lug or projection 32 and lugs 33. Lugs 33 project downwardly from run- Way or tube 20 and pivotally support lever 34 which has an upturned stop 35 on one end adapted to contact with runway or tube 20. The end of lever 12 to which the float-valve 6 is connected is bent out under lever 34 and tube 20 as more clearly shown by Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The water-actuated overbalancing member as illustrated by the drawings comprises a bucket 36 with a removable bottom in the form of a valve 37. This bucket is suspended by links 38 from lug 32 and is positioned in the overflow pipe 16. The valve or removable bottom 37 is hung from lever 34 link 39 and is normally held in watertight contact with bucket 36 by spring 40.

The operation of the mechanism is as follows: Fig. 2 of the drawings shows'the parts in the positions which they occupy when the tank is full of water and ready for a flushing operation. With the parts in these positions, the handle or lever 14 is moved pulling wire 15 down, rocking lever 12 on its pivot 13 and raising float-valve, 6 from its seat, permitting the'water to run out from the tank. As lever 12 swings about its pivot its bent end contacts with lever 34 and rocks a said lever about its pivot until the stop 35 contacts with the runway or tube 20. This rocking of lever 34 stretches spring and moves valve 37 away from bucket 36 permitting the water in bucket 36 to escape. As the lever 12 continuesto swing or rock on its pivot 13 the runway or tube 20 is tilted on rod 21 until its inclination is such that the weight or ball 26 moves or rolls to the other end'of the runway or tube. The parts will now occupy the positions shown by Fig. 3 of the drawings. As the runway or tube 20 tilted, the valve 3 was opened by the water supplied to it under pressure and the nut 31 on link 29 followed the lug 30 down. Water is now flowing from the tank and will continue to flow from the tank until float-valve 6 is reseated and water is flowing into the'tank and will continue to flow into the tank until valve 3 is closed. The end of lever 12 to which float-valve 6 is secured is heavy enough so that when the pull on wire 15 is discontinued lever 12 will swing back to its former position which is shown by Figs. 2 and 4 of the drawings. This movement of lever 12 permits the spring 40 to contract and pull valve 37 up against the bucket-36as shown by Fig. 4 of the draw ings. While the tank is emptying the floatvalve 6 will float at the surface of the water I in the tank until the water level islowered sufliciently for the valve to reseat as shown by Fig. 4 of the drawings. With the parts bucket 36.

positions shown by Fig. 2 of the drawings and the inlet valve 3 will be closed.

The tension of spring 40 must be suliicient to keep the valve 37 closed against the end of bucket 36 when the bucket is full of water and the capacity of the bucket must be sutlieient to close valve 3 against the water pressure and tilt the tube 20. Preferably the weight 26 is made heavy enough to keep the valve 3 closed against the pressure of the water even if the water in the bucket 36 leaks out and preferably the weight 26 is made considerably heavier than necessary to keep valve 3 closed to insure the keeping of valve 3 closed.

'Valve 6 may be any suitable kind of valve for the purpose stated such as the kind in common use for this purpose. It is a buoyant valve when raised from its seat and floating in the water but of course, the guide 9 will prevent it rising to the top of the water, when raised from its seat, when the tank is full of water, when, however, the water level in the tank lowers suiiiciently, the valve 6 will fall with the lowering water level until it reseats.

W1 realize that the specific structures of the mechanism which we have illustrated and described may be varied considerably without departing from our invention and consequently we do not wish to limit ourselves to the specific structures of the mechanism illustrated and described, but

What we claim is:

In flushing mechanism, the combination with the tank and the inlet valve therefor, of a tiltable runway, a weight movable with respect thereto, an overflow pipe, a bucket in said pipe suspended from said runway, a valvefor said bucket, a lever pivoted to said runway and supporting said valve, a spring for maintaining said bucket valve closed, and a lever for opening said bucket valve and tilting said runway.

In witness whereof we hereto aiiix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

HENRY E. MEYER. 7 CHARLES E. JENSEN.

Witnesses:

W. C. FAIROHILD, NnLs CHRISTENSEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

* Washington, D. 0. 

